Well on to more practical matters...
any farmers out there or in here?
Just wonder how the crops are fairing this year.
Been a strange year whether wise and all.
I see theres more farmers getting into organic produce
and more specialized crops.
hmmmm Some think having stuff from around the world
out of season is a bad thing. What I don't like is that
the flavour seems to have been "bred" out of most things.
The flavour or ....??? spots on my apples.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
With pink hotels a botique and a swingin hot spot.

We have a nice farmers market here and theres a hutterite
colony that grows some pretty decent stuff near by.
Theyre actually quite inovative and are using their animal wastes
to generate electricity. Methane digestures I think they are.

12 Jul 2005 @ 16:36 by jmarc : 20 foot diameter circleplanted @ May 1
Broccoli 12 plants, very plentiful
brussel sprouts 12 plants about 2 and 1/2 ft high little sprout nubs just now appearing on the stalks
Ruby red cabbage in the center of the garden, finally starting to fill in. The leaves are huge. Slugs have riddled the lower outer leaves with holes. Still not ready though. Hope they make it through the summer heat.
Tomatoe plants, eleven of them in different varieties, early girl, beefsteak, cherry, romas taking over and just frikken huge, many have tomatoes and lots of flowers promising more tomatoes.
Lettuce 12 romaine and 12 head lettuce. all the romaine is eaten (had to toss 3 of them because they got too slimy. Not sure what caused that). About 6 heads of head lettuce left, doing ok but starting to bolt i think so we'll finish that up soon too.
About a dozen pepper plants in differnt varieties red bell, green bell, habanero, jalepeno, hot cherry. I planted them between the tomatoes around the circumfrence. Some are getting too shaded by the tomatoes, so I am transplanting the stunted ones to the places emptied by the used lettuce. Habeneros not growing big. Not sure if they're suppose to. Maybe it's been to wet for them.
Cukes. planted late may, also at the outer limit with the peppers and tomatoes. They keep trying to grab onto the tomatoes so i go out there every day or two and unwind them from the tomatoes and train them onto the chicken wire fence.
Outside the fence on the hill weve got a giant pumpkin that hasnt flowered yet, acorn squash that just finished flowering and is now got tiny nubs in place of the flowers which will be the acorn squash, eating pumpkins, baby pam, that havent flowered yet but look like they will any day,(scared a garter snake out of the baby pams the other day when I was checking them), zucchinni squash flowered last night, and mystery squash,( we forgot what we planted on that mound, maybe eggplant, maybe summer squash, maybe more zuchinni?) has also flowered.
Also, radished growing in herb garden on the other side of the house slowly being transplanted into lettuce rows as space permits, on rainy days.
The robin pair which nested in the bush had four babies, which flew off last week. The nest is empty, with no dead ones underneath, so I guess they all made it. I still see the robins around getting themselves worms though. I also see the catbirds still around, but seeing that they built their nest in the pricker bushes, I dont know how many babes they had or if they've flown yet.
Giant sunflowers the four plants that the woodchuck didnt eat, are about three feet tall, no flowers yet.
No sign of the woodchuck since I poured the used kitty litter down its hole and sprinkled it around the diameter of the garden.

12 Jul 2005 @ 16:51 by jstarrs : No......you don't talk too much.
I think there's a big water shortage (as usual) this year, again.
Maybe going back to Jaqueline's garden to help out weeding and planting./sowing for the next season - unless I have to return to the UK to look after my mother.

12 Jul 2005 @ 16:54 by swanny : Happy CabbagesNow those are happy cabbages...
Have you been feedin them "cabbage nip"...?

*smiles*

12 Jul 2005 @ 17:15 by bushman : Accuallydoing pretty good out here in Sedona,so far, last few years we got hail about now, looked like someone took a shot gun to the place, lol. Seems the squashes are growing kind of slower than they have in the past, but like today it's going to be 110degf, lol. Tomatos and peppers are lovin it though. :}

13 Jul 2005 @ 18:47 by silviamar : severe droughtIt's being a very strange year. We have right now 35ºC (95 ºF) at 9pm, when other years in July we used to have up to 20ºC or lower at this time of the day. And I'm lucky to live in the North, when it rains pretty often. But in most parts of Spain they are having a strong drought, and of course this is a very harmful situation for crops, big loses for farmers. And not only here, but also in Portugal and France. I found yesterday these news about it:
'Farmers are also warning of big losses. Crops in Spain and Portugal have more than halved, prompting the EU to agree to an unprecedented transfer of surplus grain from central Europe. In Spain, farm unions have estimated losses at 1.8bn euros and say some farmers may now leave the land altogether.'